Valve respects the privacy of its online visitors and customers of its products and services and complies with applicable laws for the protection of your privacy, including, without limitation, the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA"), the European Union General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR") and the UK GDPR.

Valve and its subsidiary TR Technical Inc. comply with the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (EU-U.S. DPF), the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF, and the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (Swiss-U.S. DPF) as set forth by the U.S. Department of Commerce. Valve has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (EU-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from the European Union in reliance on the EU-U.S. DPF and from the United Kingdom (and Gibraltar) in reliance on the UK Extension to the EU-U.S. DPF. Valve has certified to the U.S. Department of Commerce that it adheres to the Swiss-U.S. Data Privacy Framework Principles (Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles) with regard to the processing of personal data received from Switzerland in reliance on the Swiss-U.S. DPF. If there is any conflict between the terms in this privacy policy and the EU-U.S. DPF Principles and/or the Swiss-U.S. DPF Principles, the Principles shall govern. To learn more about the Data Privacy Framework (DPF) program, and to view our certification, please visit https://www.dataprivacyframework.gov/.

1. Definitions

Wherever we talk about personal data ("Personal Data") below, we mean any information that can either itself identify you as an individual ("Personally Identifying Information") or that can be connected to you indirectly by linking it to Personally Identifying Information. Valve also processes anonymous data, aggregated or not, to analyze and produce statistics related to the habits, usage patterns, and demographics of customers as a group or as individuals. Such anonymous data does not allow the identification of the customers to which it relates. Valve may share anonymous data, aggregated or not, with third parties.

Other capitalized terms in this Privacy Policy shall have the meanings defined in the Steam Subscriber Agreement ("SSA").

2. Why Valve Collects and Processes Data

Valve collects and processes Personal Data for the following reasons:

a) where it is necessary for the performance of our agreement with you to provide a full-featured gaming service and deliver associated Content and Services;
b) where it is necessary for compliance with legal obligations that we are subject to (e.g. our obligations to keep certain information under tax laws);
c) where it is necessary for the purposes of the legitimate and legal interests of Valve or a third party (e.g. the interests of our other customers), except where such interests are overridden by your prevailing legitimate interests and rights; or
d) where you have given consent to it.

These reasons for collecting and processing Personal Data determine and limit what Personal Data we collect and how we use it (section 3. below), how long we store it (section 4. below), who has access to it (section 5. below) and what rights and other control mechanisms are available to you as a user (section 6. below).

3. The Types and Sources of Data We Collect

3.1 Basic Account Data
When setting up an Account, Valve will collect your email address and country of residence. You are also required to choose a user name and a password. The provision of this information is necessary to register a Steam User Account. During setup of your account, the account is automatically assigned a number (the "Steam ID") that is later used to reference your user account without directly exposing Personally Identifying Information about you.
We do not require you to provide or use your real name for the setup of a Steam User Account.

3.2 Transaction and Payment Data
In order to make a transaction on Steam (e.g. to purchase Subscriptions for Content and Services or to fund your Steam Wallet), you may need to provide payment data to Valve to enable the transaction. If you pay by credit card, you need to provide typical credit card information (name, address, credit card number, expiration date and security code) to Valve, which Valve will process and transmit to the payment service provider of your choice to enable the transaction and perform anti-fraud checks. Likewise, Valve will receive data from your payment service provider for the same reasons.

3.3 Other Data You Explicitly Submit
We will collect and process Personal Data whenever you explicitly provide it to us or send it as part of communication with others on Steam, e.g. in Steam Community Forums, chats, or when you provide feedback or other user generated content. This data includes:

• Information that you post, comment or follow in any of our Content and Services;
• Information sent through chat;
• Information you provide when you request information or support from us or purchase Content and Services from us, including information necessary to process your orders with the relevant payment merchant or, in case of physical goods, shipping providers;
• Information you provide to us when participating in competitions, contests and tournaments or responding to surveys, e.g. your contact details.

3.4 Your Use of the Steam Client and Websites
We collect a variety of information through your general interaction with the websites, Content and Services offered by Steam. Personal Data we collect may include, but is not limited to, browser and device information, data collected through automated electronic interactions and application usage data.
Likewise, we will track your process across our websites and applications to verify that you are not a bot and to optimize our services.

3.5 Your Use of Games and other Subscriptions
In order to provide you with services, we need to collect, store and use various information about your activity in our Content and Services. "Content-Related Information" includes your Steam ID, as well as what is usually referred to as "game statistics". By game statistics we mean information about your games' preferences, progress in the games, playtime, as well as information about the device you are using, including what operating system you are using, device settings, unique device identifiers, and crash data.

3.6 Tracking Data and Cookies
We use "Cookies", which are text files placed on your computer, and similar technologies (e.g. web beacons, pixels, ad tags and device identifiers) to help us analyze how users use our services, as well as to improve the services we are offering, to improve marketing, analytics or website functionality. The use of Cookies is standard on the internet. Although most web browsers automatically accept cookies, the decision of whether to accept or not is yours. You may adjust your browser settings to prevent the reception of cookies, or to provide notification whenever a cookie is sent to you.
You can manage the use of optional cookies by clicking on the "Cookies setting" page accessible via the cookie banner displayed when you first visit our website and at any time through the Cookie Settings page available here.
When you visit any of our services, our servers log your IP address, which is a number that is automatically assigned to the network your computer is part of.

3.7 Content Recommendations
We may process information collected under this section 3 so that content, products and services shown on the pages of the Steam store and in update messages displayed when launching the Steam Client can be tailored to meet your needs and populated with relevant recommendations and offers. This is done to improve your customer experience. You can prevent the processing of your data in this way by turning off the automatic loading of the Steam store page and of Steam notifications in the "Interface" section of the Steam Client settings.
Valve may send you marketing messages about products and services that are similar to goods and services you have previously requested from Valve to your email address or where you have given explicit consent. In such a case we may also use your collected information to customize such marketing messages as well as collect information on whether you opened such messages and which links in their text you followed.
You can opt out or withdraw your consent to receive marketing emails at any time by either withdrawing the consent on the same page where you previously provided it or clicking the "unsubscribe" link provided in every marketing email. Alternatively, you can select what kinds of emails you wish to receive on the email setting page.

3.8 Information Required to Detect Violations
We collect certain data that is required for our detection, investigation and prevention of fraud, cheating and other violations of the SSA and applicable laws ("Violations"). This data is used only for the purposes of detection, investigation, prevention and, where applicable, acting on of such Violations and stored only for the minimum amount of time needed for this purpose. If the data indicates that a Violation has occurred, we will further store the data for the establishment, exercise or defense of legal claims during the applicable statute of limitations or until a legal case related to it has been resolved. Please note that the specific data stored for this purpose may not be disclosed to you if the disclosure will compromise the mechanism through which we detect, investigate and prevent such Violations.

4. How Long We Store Data

We will only store your information as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes for which the information is collected and processed or — where the applicable law provides for longer storage and retention period — for the storage and retention period required by law. After that your Personal Data will be deleted, blocked or anonymized, as provided by applicable law.

In particular:

• If you terminate your Steam User Account, your Personal Data will be marked for deletion except to the degree legal requirements or other prevailing legitimate purposes dictate a longer storage.
• In certain cases, Personal Data cannot be completely deleted in order to ensure the consistency of the gameplay experience or the Steam Community Market. For instance, matches you have played that affect other players' matchmaking data and scores will not be deleted; rather, your connection to these matches will be permanently anonymized.
• Please note that Valve is required to retain certain transactional data under statutory commercial and tax law for a period of up to ten (10) years.
• If you withdraw your consent on which a processing of your Personal Data or of the Personal Data of your child is based, we will delete your Personal Data or respectively the Personal Data of your child without undue delay to the extent that the collection and processing of the Personal Data was based on the withdrawn consent.
• If you exercise a right to object to the processing of your Personal Data, we will review your objection and delete your Personal Data that we processed for the purpose to which you objected without undue delay, unless another legal basis for processing and retaining this data exists or unless applicable law requires us to retain the data.

5. Who Has Access to Data

Valve does not sell Personal Data. However, we may share or provide access to each of the categories of Personal Data we collect as necessary for the following business purposes.

5.1 Valve and its subsidiaries may share your Personal Data with each other and use it to the degree necessary to achieve the purposes listed in section 2 above. In the event of a reorganization, sale or merger we may transfer Personal Data to the relevant third party subject to applicable laws, the Principles and liability requirements under the DPF.

5.2 We may also share your Personal Data with our third party service providers that provide customer support services in connection with goods, Content and Services distributed via Steam. Your Personal Data will be used in accordance with this Privacy Policy and only as far as this is necessary for performing customer support services. Valve complies with the Principles for all onward transfers of Personal Data from the EU, Switzerland, and the UK, including the provisions governing onward transfer liability.

5.3 In accordance with internet standards, we may also share certain information (including your IP address and the identification of Steam content you wish to access) with our third party network providers that provide content delivery network services and game server services in connection with Steam. Our content delivery network providers enable the delivery of digital content you have requested, e.g. when using Steam, by using a system of distributed servers that deliver the content to you, based on your geographic location.

5.4 We make certain data related to your Steam User Account available to other players and our partners through the Steamworks API. This information can be accessed by anyone by querying your Steam ID. At a minimum, the public persona name you have chosen to represent you on Steam and your Avatar picture are accessible this way, as well as whether you have received a ban for cheating in a multiplayer game. The accessibility of any additional info about you can be controlled through your Steam Community user profile page; data publicly available on your profile page can be accessed automatically through the Steamworks API. In addition to the publicly available information, game developers and publishers have access to certain information from the Steamworks API directly relating to the users of the games they operate. This information includes as a minimum your ownership of the game in question. Depending on which Steamworks services are implemented in the game it may also include leaderboard information, your progress in the game, achievements you have completed, your multiplayer game matchmaking information, in-game items and other information needed to operate the game and provide support for it. For more information on what Steamworks services a specific game has implemented, please review its store page.
While we do not knowingly share Personally Identifying Information about you through the Steamworks API such as your real name or your email address, any information you share about yourself on your public Steam Profile can be accessed through the Steamworks API, including information that may make you identifiable.

5.5 The Steam community includes message boards, forums and/or chat areas, where users can exchange ideas and communicate with each other. When posting a message to a board, forum or chat area, please be aware that the information is being made publicly available online; therefore, you are doing so at your own risk. If your Personal Data is posted on one of our community forums against your will, please use the reporting function and the Steam help site to request its removal.

5.6 Valve may allow you to link your Steam User Account to an account offered by a third party. If you consent to link the accounts, Valve may collect and combine information you allowed Valve to receive from a third party with information of your Steam User Account to the degree allowed by your consent at the time. If the linking of the accounts requires the transmission of information about your person from Valve to a third party, you will be informed about it before the linking takes place and you will be given the opportunity to consent to the linking and the transmission of your information. The third party's use of your information will be subject to the third party's privacy policy, which we encourage you to review.

5.7 Valve may release Personal Data to comply with court orders or laws and regulations that require us to disclose such information.